LECTURES: Fri, September 28, 2012

A juried exhibition of exceptional thesis projects by 2012 graduates, featuring the 2012 Gehry Prize winning thesis, and the six best graduate thesis projects, will be on view in the SCI-Arc Gallery September 17-28.

Friday, September 21, 6pm
Eric Owen Moss and the 2012 best thesis winners discuss the exhibitionReception to follow

The 2012 Gehry Prize was awarded to the husband-and-wife team Liz von Hasseln (M.Arch 1 ‘12) and Kyle von Hasseln (M.Arch ‘12) for their project, Phantom Geometry, developed in the SCI-Arc Robot House. Thesis advisers were faculty members Devyn Weiser and Peter Testa.

Graduate students honored with 2012 Best Thesis awards are Maya Alam (M.Arch 1) for The Bastardized Gestalt, Daniel Nytoft Berlin (M.Arch 2) for Rendezvous—Subverting the latent relationship between a stack and a pile, Erin D. Bessler (M.Arch 1) for Low Fidelity, Fernando Herrera (M.Arch 2) for Unraveled, Dale Strong (M.Arch 2) for Working Blue and Ben Warwas (M.Arch 1) for Field So Good.

An integrated two-term experience, the thesis program at SCI-Arc is designed to engage the interests and methods of working of each individual student. The first term is primarily dedicated to research, and to the development of a formal thesis proposal that rigorously lays the groundwork for the in-depth design study expected during the following term. The thesis term itself is dedicated to exploring responses to the inquiry posed by the thesis proposal.

Graduate thesis reflects SCI-Arc's rigorous architectural education that is responsive to cultural change, promotes architectural experimentation and creative and academic freedom, and supports a fluid relationship between education and practice.

The SCI-Arc Media Archive is a continuously expanding, evolving online media showcase of lectures, symposia, performances and gallery talks from some of the most talented architects and creative thinkers of our time, hosted at SCI-Arc from 1974 to present.

Media content on the user-friendly website will be free and accessible to all. Recorded at different times and places, using different technologies, the videos are presented as originally captured. Each video is tagged and extensively described, providing a media platform which enables visitors to search by keyword, year, speaker name or theme. A highlight of the new media library will be featured online exhibitions produced regularly by guest curators.

While emphasizing architecture and design issues, the media library covers more than 3,300 different topics, from Abstraction to Zeitgeist. Speakers include the most significant architects, designers, artists and theorists of the last four decades, including 11 winners of the coveted Pritzker Architecture Prize. The Southern California scene is expecially well represented with architects from mid-century icon John Lautner to rising architect Elena Manferdini, to artists David Hockney and Mike Kelley, to surprise guests such as Breakfast Club director John Hughes.

The SCI-Arc Media Archive is the culmination of a three-year endeavor involving SCI-Arc staff, students, faculty, alumni, and a range of outside technicians, consultants, and collaborating institutions. Major funding was provided by The Getty Foundation and The National Endowment for the Arts. Curatorial support was provided by the MAK Center Los Angeles for the exhibition Outspoken: Lectures from the SCI-Arc Media Archive, on view May 15-August 12, 2012.